Thread unwinding apparatus and method



Aug. 5, 1952 E. P. MILLER THREAD UNWINDING APPARATUS AND METHOD FiledFeb. 21, 1946 INVENTOR. EnE/Py R M/LLER rqnourvo Patented Aug. 5, 1952THREAD UNWINDING APPARATUS D METHOD Emery .P. Miller, Williams Creek,Ind., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Ransburg Electro: Coating Com,Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application February 21,1946, Serial No. 649,26?

The present invention relates to theprocess of and apparatus forunwinding filamentary material from wound packages such as cops.

In the unwinding or unreeling of thread from cops, spools, or otherwound packages, the relatively poor adhesive characteristics of thethread on the cop frequently allows the thread to fall from its positionon the cop before it is withdrawn from that position by the pullingaction of the thread. This unwinding ahead of the demand results intangles and snarls in the smooth flow of the thread from the cop.

The present invention has for its object the elimination of tangling ofa thread while being unwound from a spindle, ball or the like.

According to the present invention a cop of yarn, roving or the like issupported in a stationary manner On a conducting spindle and issurrounded by an electrostatic field of a sufficiently high electricalpotential with relation to the spindle to prevent tangling of the yarnas it is unwound. The electrostatic field surrounding the cop produces aforce urging the threads toward the center and prevents adventitiousunraveling or tangling of the yarn.

The invention will be described in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which Figure 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of theinvention,

Figure 2 is a view looking in the direction of the arrow II in Figure l,and

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a detail of the apparatus shown inFigure 1.

Referring to the drawing, a board I carries a plurality of spindles 2 ofconducting material which have a reduced threaded end 3 passing throughthe board and are held thereon by nuts 4. The spindles 2 receive aplurality of cops 6 of filament wrapping or yarn of any suitablematerial such as rayon or the like. The spindles 2 may be grounded inany suitable manner, as by a wire I or connected directly by such wireto one terminal of a suitable source of high electrical potential whichmay itself be grounded. Suitably secured on the board in spaced relationare insulator rods 9 which are internally threaded at their ends andreceive cap screws H. An annulus 12 has wires I3 suitably welded theretoand extending therefrom which terminate in loops which receive the capscrews by which the annulus is held in position surrounding the cop 6.Each cop is surrounded by an annulus, which annuli may be suitablyelectrically interconnected. A wire I connects the annulus orinterconnected annuli to another terminal of the source of highelectrical potential.

7 Claims. (01. 242-128) Any suitable thickness of wire or strip materialmay be employed for the, annulus l2, and any suitable source of director alternating high electrical potential may be connected thereto.Preferably the annulus is located intermediate the ends of the cop andis of lesswidth than the length of the cop. Also, I prefer to employ apulsating electrical potential on the order of about eighty-fivethousand volts, and at that voltage the annulus should be no closer thanabout six inches from the outside of the cop to avoid sparkingtherebetween. It will be understood the preferred spacing between thecop and annulus in any particular instance will depend on the voltageemployed, and that the annulus should also be spaced sufficiently fromthe ground connection to avoid the passage of a spark therebetween. Theelectrostatic field thus established between the annulus and cop may beionizing or not, as desired.

The end of the thread to be unwound passes through the annulus l2 and isdrawn out through an eye [6, suitably supported to a winding reel ortire forming machine (not shown). The electrostatic field created aboutthe cop, which has a gradient on the order of about ten thousand voltsper inch, exerts a force upon the thread. coiled 0n the cop and urgesthe surface wrappings or coils against the underlying sub-surfacewrapping or coils. The electrostatic force effectively prevents thewrappings or coils from unwinding from the cop faster than the end ofthe filamentary material or thread is withdrawn from the cop for thepurposes of the particular machine to which the thread is beingsupplied. This tends toward preventing the thread from becoming tangledand yet insures a smooth and even delivery of the thread unimpeded bythe intervention of any mechanical braking or drag-producing deviceswhich may be susceptible to misoperation with attendant breaking of thethread as it is withdrawn from the cop.

The invention may be embodied in various other forms without departingfrom the spirit or scope thereof.

I claim:

1. The method which comprises positioning a filament wrapping about acentral conductor. surrounding said wrapping by an ionizingelectrostatic field, applying sufficient potential gradient to saidelectrostatic field to urge the surface wrappings against the subsurfacecoils, and unwrapping successive surface wrappings.

2. The method which comprises positioning a cop Wound with thread upon aspindle, surrounding said cop by an annular ionizing electrode,

said thread of material at its point of removal is subjected to theinfluence of an ionizing electrostatic field. Y

4. In cop unwinding apparatus in which thread i is withdrawncontinuously from, a layerwound cop, means including a thread-guidingmeans for removing thread from a cop, and means including a high voltagesource and an ionizing electrode having relatively small aggregatesurface area in opposed relation to the outer layer on the cop forestablishing an electrostatic field to attract the thread at its pointof removal to said cop.

5. In apparatus for unwinding filamentary material from a wound package,means for supporting the wound package of filamentary material, meansincluding a thread-guiding means for unwinding filamentary material fromsaid supported package, a pair of electrodes spaced on opposite sides ofthat portion of said wound package from which thread is being removed,one of said electrodes presenting toward the other electrode a sharplycurved surface of relatively small aggregate area, and means including ahigh-voltage source for establishing a potential difference between saidelectrodes for attracting said filamentary material at its point ofremoval to said wound package.

6. The invention set forth in claim 5 with the addition that one of saidelectrodes has an axial extent less than that of said wound package.

7. The invention set forth in claim 5 with the addition that one of saidelectrodes is in the form of an annulus.

, EMERY P. MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,263,681 Hart, Jr. Nov. 25, 19412,421,334 Kline et a1. May 27, 1947

